Process of making solid balls.



J. P. APPLEBY.

` PROCESS or MAKING SOLID BALLS.

Patented Dec. 9,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

L JVENTOR APPLIOATION FILED Nov.25, 1912.

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J. P. APPLBBY.

PROCESS 0F MAKING SOLID BALLS.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 25, 1912.

Patented Deo. 9, 1913.

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4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

[N VEN T 0R AllorfleJ/J J. P. APPLEBY. PROCESS OF MAKING SOLID BALLS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25. 1912.

3. R m m n .m 1L... N 9 w M., b N D T l m y.. n 4 P. 9 .511... w y E? 0., WG nl J. P. APPLEBY. PROCESS 0F MAKING som BALLS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25. 1912. n Lgpygt, Patented Dec. 9, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4;

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tinnen aires ramena ernten JAMES P. APPLEJBY, 0F OTTUMWA, IOWA, ASSGNOR T0 JOHNSTON t SHARP `V.IJ1N"U` FAGTURING COMPANY, OEUTTUMWA, IOWA, CORPORATION Olli' IGWA.

'rnocnss or MAKING- so saints.

Specification `of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. Q, i913.,

Application tiled November25, 1912. SerialNo. 733,471.

To aZZ whom t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES P. APPIEBY, of Ottumwa, Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Processes of Making Solid Balls, which invention is Jully set forth in the following specification.

rThis invention relates to improvements in making solid balls and'has for its object truing and reducing rough solid metal balls by condensing and flaking ott the surface to any desired extent to true the surface and produce the desired size and finish.

In the manufacture of solid metal balls, the balls present in their first stages, whether made by casting, turnin or swaging, various surface irregularitles and imperfections ot form. rlhis is particularly the case with4 balls swaged from rough piecesof wire. Such balls often present a peripheral ring about the equator of the ball and also either raised or flattened poles depending on the size of the stock and character of the dies used in shaping the metal. With a view of removing such defects and of truing the balls, they have heretofore been subjected to the tedious operation ot grinding and in the case of steel balls this operation is followed by a subsequent and separate step or" hardening which is apt to roughen t-he surface and require further treatment y of the surface to render it smooth.

ll have discovered that solid metal balls 0Ip the character above referred to may be trued or reduced to size and hardened while materially simpliyin'g the operations by applying pressure to successive portions of the surface of the ball suliicient to condense the outer layers of metal and cause the surface to break into akes and separate od, Whereby the irregularities are reduced andA removed. By the continued application of this operation the ball may be reduced to any desired and uniform size in a rapid and satisfactory manner.

lMy invention resides,` therefore, in a method of truing and reducing to size solid metal balls by condensing successive portions of the surface of the ball and laking oli the surface so condensed.

By way of illustrating one means for I carrying out my process, ll have shown and described a machine suitable for the purpose. ,It is to be understood, however, that the method is not to be restricted to the use '5 5 ofthe particular machine herein described,

for-ming or taking a solid metal ball, suchv as a ball madev of steel, andisubjecting it to pressure applied progressively over its surface and of suiicient intensity to condense the surface layers of the mjetal on the undisturbed interior mass and while so condensing and stratitying the surface to apply a sliding or frictional ressure to the condensed layer to cause aking and breaking up the stratified surface. ln practice, it has been found that the flakes from balls finishing to about 0.25 in. diameter may be very thin, calipering from .001 in.. .to @0025 in. The small amount of metal thus successively removed in form ot' flakes enables very accurate truing of. the balls. ln this operation the high lrregula-rities are tlaked ed to the bottom of the depressions on the surface and by a continuation of the operation the surface may be uniformly/'removed to reduce the diameter ot theball to any extent desired. 'llhe ball now presents a practically spherical form with a unilnorm, but not a polished surface. rlhis may be produced by the usual methods ot abrasion which can now be effected with ease and readiness, since the surface irregularities are minute. Balls thus treated are of neemsity oit less diameter than the original swaged 'balls,therefore in making nished balls to size the swaged balls should have diameters .slight-ly in excess of the linal. diameter to allow for reduction. The surface of the nished balls is condensed and hardened by the operation and is suticiently ac`Y curate for many uses demanded by the trade. While my lprocess is more particularly adapted for use in making and iinishing` steel balls, it is to be understood that it may and of other material capable ot laking under the operations above described.

My machine primarily includes in combination a .stationary interiorly grooved ring formed in sections; a revoluble eateriorly grooved disk located within this ring, the opposing grooves forming a track u into which the balls are fed, means for yieldingly pressing one section of the ring toward thedisk and against the balls wherebythe latter are subjected to pressure causl ing their surfaces to flake'while they revolve as they are advanced by the disk and means for discharging the balls and the flakes disengaged from the balls while they run loosely and rattle together' in the grooves after passing the yielding section. An automatically operated feed device preferably supplies the balls to the groove and is controlled to permitl each charge4 of balls to remain under the flaking action of the machine before they are discharged. The section of the ring which is yieldingly pressed toward the periphery of the disk and acts with the disk to size the balls is made of hardened steel. The remaining sections of the disk which donot sustain the work-of sizing may be of softer metal. Thus when a ball comes between the yielding .section and the periphery of the revolving disk, the part of the ball in contact with the bottom of the groove in the disk will travel at the same peripheral speed as does the disk and the part of the groove which reaches up around the ball coming very closely to the axial point of the ball travels faster than thatpart of the ball. A sliding motion re` sults while the ball is under heavy pressure. The inner solid mass resists this pressure and enables the surface or skin of the ball to condense and l[lake and disengage yitself therefrom. The high spots are thus re moved and by continuing the iakng the grooves close and the .ball is reduced to size. Theflaking is assisted by presence of oil.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, which are designed merelyas illustrations to assist the description of the invention and not as-defining the limits thereof in which- Figure 1 is a view in end elevation of my machine; Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevational view looking from theright hand side of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a View in vertical section taken on line 4-.4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a detail view of the feed driving means, and Fig. 6 is a sectional detail on line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings, 1 designates a dish-shaped bed plate to which standards 2, 3, for supporting parts of thel machine are made fast by securing means such as by bolts 4, one of which is shown in Fig. 4. Mounted in suitable .bearings in the uprights 2 3 is a shaft 5 driven by a belt pulley. To this shaft 5 is secured a disk 6, preferably of hardened steel in the periphery of which is a semi-circular groove 7 which faces acorresponding groove 8 in a stationary ring consisting of sections 9, 10, 11 and 12. Sections 10 and 12 of this ring are rigidly secured to a part.

13 of the standardv 3 by bolts 14. Section 11 1s prvotally supported to the same part 13 of the standard 3 and section 9 which is of hardened steel is mounted in a bracket arm 15 pivoted at 16 to the frameand 1t is secured in its place by. screws 17. The bracket arm 15 is yieldingly pressed toward the disk 6 by a spring 1S which is held under compression by a set screw 19 'working in a threaded recess of the stationary bracket arm 20. The upper end of bracket arm 15 vwhich carries section 9 is provided with an adjustable stop 21 for limiting the' approach of section 9 to the revoluble ldisk 6.

The feeding device which supplies .the

swaged balls to the truing grooves comprises a stationary hopper 22 mounted on a plate 23 secured at one end to the frame and at the other end to a supporting rod 24.- In plate 23 are one or more openings 25 located within the delivery end of the hopper and which are adapted to register with openings 26 formed in a disk 27 mounted to revolve about a pin 28 which projects from a plate29 serving to support disk 27 and to hold the balls in place as they are carried forward to a discharge channel 30 leading to the truing grooves. A step by step motion is imparted to the ball feeding disk 27 by ratchet mechanism and for this purpose disk27 is provided with ratchet teeth 31 of uniform size except one which will be described later.

Referringmore particularly to Figs. 2 and v5, a spring-pressed pawl 32 is mounted on a horizontally swinging arm 33 which has a loose engagement with a vertical rocking arm 34 normally under spring tension by a spring 35 which rocks the arm forward when not otherwise restrained. Rocking arm 34 is fast to one end of a shaft 36, t0l

the opposite end of which is secured an arm 37 carrying a friction rollen 38 contacting with a cam 39 on the main drive shaft 5. It will be seen from this construction that each revolution of the cam 39 actuates the spring?T pawl 32 forward and `advances the ball ceding disk 27 the distance of one tooth on its periphery,. this distance corresponding tothe spaces between the cavities 26 in the disk 27. This movement of the feeding disk continues until the last tooth is reached which presents more surface than the others and then the movement of the disk stops for a predetermined time to allow the truing operation of the grooves to re.

duce the' balls to the finished size whenthey are automatically discharged from the grooves. To eii'ect this result and to start the feeding disk 27 rotating the following means are provided. V

Beneath the pivoteddischarge section .11 is located a cam disk 40 having in its periphery, a rentering cam surface 41 into which the roller 42 of section 11 drops when it rolls olf the supporting cam surface of disk 40, thereby permitting the section 11 to ist drop and discharge the balls from the truing grooves into the cup-shaped base plate 1 or other receptacle. Cam disk 40 receives its movement from a shaft 43, Fig. 3, to one end of which it is fast, the opposite end of shaft 43 being provided with a driving ratchet wheel 44 which determines by its rate of movement the times of opening and closing of the discharge section 11, depending on the length of time the balls are to remain in the machine or on the degree of accuracy as to size and finish desired. Pivotally mounted on the frame near the ratchet wheel 44 is a lever 45 carrying a spring-pressed pawl 46 engaging the ratchet wheel 44. The outer end of this lever 45 is pivotally connected through member 47 with a rocking arm 48 hinged at 49 to the main frame. Arm 48 carries a friction roller 50 riding on the surface of a cam 51 driven from main shaft 5 through a trainof gears 52, 53 and 54, mounted on a bracket arm 5G and driven by gear wheel 55 on shaft For each revolution of cam 51, pawl 46 advances ratchet wheel 44 one tooth at a time, and this movement is transmitted to cam 40 through shaft 43. 0n cam 40 is a stud 57 which lies in the path of a projection 58 on lever 59 fulcrumed at 60 on a stationary part of the machine. The upper end of lever 59 carries a spring-pressed pawl G1 adapted to engage the teeth of disk 27 and normally tends to move forward under the action of a spring 62. 0n feed disk 27 is one tooth 68 over which pawl 32 cannot.

normally ride, due to the fact that this tooth hasI a dwell portion longer than the throw of the pawl. YWhen'this tooth is reached, pawl 32. does not advance the feed idisk until the latter is moved by pawl 61. This occurs when stud 57 engages projection 58 of lever 52) to draw pawl 61 back and then releases the lever to be acted on by spring 62 'and thereby throw pawl G1 forward to advance disk 27 suliiciently to permit pawl 32 to pass over the dwell tooth ('33. The feed disk then begins ano-ther revolution. J ust before this revolution begins the section 11 is lifted to close the grooves b means of roller 42 which is lifted out of] the cam depression 41 by rotation of cam disk 40. rl`he movement of this disk 40 is so timed as to permit ample time for the balls in the truing grooves to be properly reduced to size before it acts on section 11 to discharge the balls.

The operation of the machine will be readily understood from 'the preceding description. The balls as they come from the upsetting or forging machine and which are made nearly of the desired size are placed in the hopper 22 and drop into the holes 26 in the feed disk 27 as it passes under the delivery end of the hopper. One by one the. balls are dropped into channel 30 opening to the truing grooves 7 and 8. When the feed disk 27 has completed one revolution the grooves are supplied with the requisite number of balls on which to operate and the feed stops as the dwell tooth on the feed disk 27 reaches awl 32. Each ball in succession is subjected between the har dened section 9 and the revolving disk 6 to a regulated spring pressure and to the frictional fia-king action of the sides of the groove in the revolving disk 6 where the differential surface velocities of the sides of the groove and that of the balls occur as above explained. The balls are carried around be- `open and the balls returned to the hopper to be passed through the machine as often as the nature of the work requires.

rlhe balls delivered from the machine may have flakes adhering to their surface. Il`hese may be removed by rattling them after which the b'alls may be polished in a rumble or other suitable polishing device.

The spring 18 effects the rolling of the balls until the inward movement of bracket l5 is arrested by stop screw 21 which is so positioned that the balls are reduced to size at or about the time cam 40 acts to discharge the balls from the machine. To permit proper adjustment of section 9 toward the periphery of disk 6 its sides where they join with other sections of the stationary ring are cut away slightly as appears in Fig. 4.

What is claimed is 2h 1. A method of truing and reducing solid balls consisting in subjecting each ball to pressure vsufficientto condense the outer layers and directing said pressure in lines loe tangential to successive portions of the surface and thereby flake od the layers to true the ball. i

2. A method of truing and reducing solid balls consisting in rotating each ball while subjecting it to pressure sufficient to condense the outer layers and directing said pressure in lines tangential to successive portions of the surface and thereby flake oit the layers to true the ball. f l

A method of truing and reducing solid balls consisting in rotating each ball while subjecting it to pressure sufficient to condense the outer layers and directing said pressure in lines tangential to successive port-ions of the surface and thereby flake off the layers to true the ball and separating adhering flakes from the balls by rattling them together.

4. A method of truing and reducing solid balls consisting in rotating each ball while subjecting it to pressure sufficient to condense the outer layers and directing said pressure in lines tangential to successive portions of the surface and 'thereby flake oil' the layers to true the ball, separating adhering Hakes from the balls by rattling them to'- gether and polishing the surfaces byabra-y sions.

5.v A method of t-ruing and reducing solid balls consisting in subjecting each ball to a yielding pressure suiicient to condense the outer layers without disturbing the interior mass and directing said pressure in lines tangential to successive portions ofthe surface and thereby Hake 0E the layers to true the ball. y

6. A method of truing and reducingvsolid balls by liaking olf their surfaces consisting in rolling each ball between grooved surfaces one of which rotates and under pres sure sufficient to condense the outer layers of the surface and separating said layers from the ball by the sliding action between lthe sides of the rotating groove and the surface of the ball.

7. A method of truing and reducing solid balls consisting in condensing the surface of the ball and aking off said surface.

8. A method of t-ruing and reducino' solid balls consisting in condensing the surface of the ball and laking oi said surface in presence of oil.

ln testimony whereof I have signed this speciication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES P. APPLEBY. Witnesses:

F.v W. SHARP,

GEO. F. HALL. 

